Skutt’s Long Wait for Revenge Ends With Sweep of Storm


CLICK HERE FOR MATCH HIGHLIGHTS AND COACH/PLAYER INTERVIEWS
OMAHA – Thursday night showed that a lot has changed since the last time Omaha Skutt and Elkhorn South met on the volleyball court.
Back on Nov. 15, 2013, Elkhorn South ended Omaha Skutt’s season with a 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 22-25, 15-13 win over the Skyhawks in the Class B State Semifinals in Grand Island. On Thursday, Omaha Skutt unleashed nearly a year’s worth of frustration from that loss on the Storm in 25-10, 25-13, 25-22 victory.
Junior Alyssa Woodman and sophomores Allison Schomers and McKenna Kirkpatrick – all of which did not play in the state tournament match a year ago – made a huge impact Thursday night, combining for 16 kills, five blocks and three aces serves.
The win improved Class B #1 and overall #4 Skutt to 28-5 on the season and increased the Skyhawks winning streak to 21 straight. Since dropping the first set in a 3-1 win over Lincoln Pius X on Sept. 16 of this year, Skutt has won 43 consecutive sets as well.
That streak of consecutive sets won looked to be in danger in the third set against Elkhorn South. After dominating the first two sets, Skutt looked to be doing the same in the third set when a kill by Kirkpatrick and a hitting error on Elkhorn South put Skutt ahead 13-6.
A couple net violations on Skutt, however, kick-started an Elkhorn South 6-0 run that ended with a pair of Kelsey Green kills to pull the Storm within 13-12. An ace serve from Sophie Auch Moedy eventually tied the set at 16-16 and a kill by Leslie Booth gave Elkhorn South an 18-17 lead.
The Storm got its lead to 21-19 on a Skutt hitting error, but the Skyhawks rattled off the next three points to go up 22-21 on an ace serve from Brooke Heyne. Omaha Skutt then got called for a lift violation, which tied the set at 22-22.
Back-to-back kills by Kirkpatrick and Claire Knust, however, got Skutt to match point and the Skyhawks got the victory when Elkhorn South was whistled for a net violation.
#4 Omaha Skutt def. #11 Elkhorn South 25-10, 25-13, 25-22.
Elkhorn South (kills-ace serves-blocks)
Jaden Thiem 0-1-0; Ashley Knight 1-0-0; Sarah Swanson 5-0-3; Ali Clark 2-0-2; Riley Newton 0-1-0; Kelsey Green 6-0-3; Sophie Auch Moedy 3-1-0; Leslie Booth 5-0-2.
Omaha Skutt (kills-ace serves-blocks)
Alyssa Woodman 4-1-2; Monica Hruby 2-2-1; Claire Knust 11-0-0; Allison Schomers 4-2-1; Brooke Heyne 7-3-2; McKenna Kirkpatrick 11-0-3; Nikki White 1-0-0.
Assists: Elkhorn South 19 (Knight 18, Josie Givens 1). Omaha Skutt 36 (Hruby 22, Schomers 13, Nikki White 1). Digs: Elkhorn South 44 (Thiem, Green 9). Omaha Skutt N/A.